SI.com's experts weigh in with their predictions for this Sunday's race in Sonoma, Calif.
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LARS
ANDERSON |
MARK
BEECH |
TOM
BOWLES |
| The winner of the Toyota/Save Mart 350 will be ... |
Jeff Gordon
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Jeff Gordon
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Tony Stewart
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| Why? |
| His first child was born on Wednesday in New York -- a baby girl named Ella Sofia Gordon -- but Gordon won't miss any practice time this weekend at the road course in Sonoma, which is his best track on the circuit. Gordon has won here five times and he's simply the best road course racer in NASCAR -- maybe the best of all-time.
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Hard to pick against him at Infineon, where he has five wins and nine top-10 finishes in 11 starts. You want more? He leads the Cup circuit in victories this year and has been nothing short of dominant in the CoT.
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He's been knocking on the door all season, so why am I gonna stop picking him now? Seriously, turning both left AND right is Stewart's forte; he's won three of the last six road course races on tour, more than Jeff Gordon and all the supposed "road course ringers" combined. |
| Keep an eye on ... |
Tony Stewart
Stewart is always a threat to win on a road course. In eight career starts at Sonoma, Stewart has completed every lap and taken two checkered flags.
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Tony Stewart
He's the only other driver besides Gordon in the top 12 of the standings to have won at Infineon. And just like Gordon, Stewart has been awesome with the CoT this year.
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A.J. Allmendinger
All the hype centers around fellow open wheel-turned stock car rookie Juan Pablo Montoya entering this race, but don't count out Allmendinger for a strong run. After all, this is a guy who won three straight road course events in Champ Car last year; that's more than Montoya can say when looking back at his final year in Formula 1.
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| Don't expect much from ... |
Matt Kenseth
Though Kenseth is one of the top-five most talented drivers on the circuit, he's not much of road-course racer. In his seven starts at Sonoma his average finish is an underwhelming 22.0.
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Dale Earnhardt Jr.
He doesn't exactly have a great reputation as a road-course driver, and with good reason. In 14 races, he's got just three top-10 finishes ... and none of them have come at Infineon, where his average finish is 23.3.
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Roush Racing
Yes, Ford finally established some momentum at Michigan with Carl Edwards' win, but it's going to be difficult for it to carry over to the road course at Sonoma. Roush has just one win at the track in its 18-year history (Mark Martin in 1997) and led a grand total of zero laps with five-full time cars here in 2006.
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| Mythical SI.com Cup |
TOTAL POINTS: 1,864
Last week: 143 (Jeff Gordon) |
TOTAL POINTS: 2,048
Last week: 37 (Matt Kenseth) |
TOTAL POINTS: 2,101
Last week: 170 (Tony Stewart) |
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